The ride was perfect. The riding partner and I left the Waller start point around 8:00. The tailwind was helpful as we averaged 18.8 mph for most of the ride. We probably could have pushed harder, but there was no reason. The weather was nice, the rest stops plentiful and well stocked and the people were friendly. No issues whatsoever with traffic or authorities. The lunch stop did have a new Clif energy packet called "Pizza Marghertita. Basically it was tomato paste in a packet. Ugh... I tried it out if stupid curiosity and to amuse the strangers at my table.
La Grange was nice. It was my first La Grange experience as last year was my first MS150. We didn't have a team tent and due to layoffs earlier in the week, the "team" pretty much fractured into two different factions. My wife met me there with my truck and after I changed in my Academy tent, we did a slow tour of the grounds before we decided to leave around 3:00.
I've turned into an old fogey in my fitness journey. Sitting around drinking beer after the ride for several hours didn't appeal to me. After getting into my tent to change, I don't think I would have enjoyed sleeping in that thing during the potential storms. Then again, I may have just enjoyed it. I liked being about to shuttle myself and my bike back to the high school so I didn't have to ride that 2.5 miles in crazy traffic to load into my truck. Since we left early, I don't know how the weather was later and overnight.
I did see several MS150 riders heading the opposite direction towards the end of the ride. I don't know if they were superstars determined to ride back to their respective starting points in a headwind or if they were doing an extra smaller loop for additional miles.